Julia left the Evans cottage, confident that she had hypnotized Maggie into forgetting, forever, what had happened when Barnabas held her prisoner at the Old House. Imagine, being under Barnabas' control, his face buried, over and over, in Maggie's throat as he "convinced" her she was Josette? Julia's face contorted with jealousy, but she hurried to Barnabas' side to tell him she had saved his ass once again.

By the time she pulled up in front of the Old House, she disappointedly noted that it was already dawn and she would have to wait hours until she could give Barnabas the great news. She decided to go down to the cellar with a candle and some medical journals she had to catch up on, and wait throughout the day, maybe give Willie a break from his guard duties.

She found the basement door ajar. Oh, Willie must be putting Barnabas to bed for the day. Julia smiled at the image of Willie tucking in a blanket around Barnabas, then closing the lid.

When Julia trooped downstairs, a smile on her face, candle in one hand, journals in the other, she found Willie at the foot of the steps, his eyes wide, staring and quite dead. There was a gunshot wound square in the middle of his forehead and a large pool of blood surrounding his dirty blond hair.

Gasping, grabbing her throat with horror, Julia turned to the coffin. The lid was open. Barnabas lay there, a huge stake protruding from his chest, gouts of blood gushing from his mouth and out from around the wound. Standing there, mallet clutched in her hand, an insane gleam in her eyes, was Maggie Evans. "Fuck him," Maggie said clearly, "and fuck you, too, Dr. Hoffman! Your hypnosis didn't work--and now it's your turn, you lying, murdering bitch!"

And she raised the gun and fired.

Love, RobinV